The present study attempts to investigate some of the issues involves in the development and patterning of thought from a personality-motivation point of view. Development of delay functions (ego control structures) commonly has been assumed to precede introspective processes and employment of "experimental action" and directed thought. Several conceptual and empirical problems are posed by this hypothesis, and this investigation seeks to clarify whether delay functions relate to different thought processes and modes in different ways (e.g. divergent thinking may be expected to decrease with excessive delay, while convergent thinking may show a monotonic relationship to control). A particular interest of the study is the investigation of perceptual and cognitive styles and their relationship to ego structure. A second focus is the role of the environment in the formation of cognitive and control patterns in the child. A broad array of measures assessing dimensions of personality and ego structures (primarily ego-control and ego-resiliency) and cognitive functions has been obtained from children in their fourth, fifth, and sixth year of life. We seek now to re-test the children on similar dimensions during their eighth year. Child rearing orientations and teaching strategies of both mothers and fathers have been assessed. We propose to complete the sequence of child assessment on which we have embarked and to analyze and integrate the widely ranging set of measures upon which the research has been built during its first five years.